“They shall make an ark of acacia wood” (Exodus 25:10) Aron HaBrit – The Ark of the Covenant – performs no function in the Divine service, and is approached but once a year when the Kohen Gadol – the High Priest – enters the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. It is the one Temple vessel that actually serves as a permanent receptacle – holding the Tablets of the Law. Yet of all the vessels described in the Torah reading of Terumah, the Ark of the Covenant remains the most compelling to the imagination. From the Ark emanates the supernal light of Torah and a reflection in this world of the perfected world and the pure light of the Garden of Eden.